Gishu culture

Today i decide to learn about the Bagisu and decided to blog about my findings.

Bagisu or Gisu also known as Gishu, Bagishu,Masaba or Sokwia are people of the Bantu family who live a long the slopes of Mount Elgon(also called Mount Masaba) in Mbale district eastern Uganda.

The Bagisu are known for the fearsome aggressiveness and strength by their neighbors in Uganda and Kenya whilst the world know the Bagisu people for their Mbalu circumcision rituals. Imbalu circumcision rituals aim at strengthening cultural continuity by enhancing the passing over of cultural responsibilities and ideologies from older generations to young ones.

Bagisu speak a language commonly known as Lugisu and sometimes called Lumasaba which belongs to Niger-Congo language family. Lugisu has multiple dialects just like any language from Bantu origin. I.e Ludwdiri, Lubuuya, lubukusu and common Lugisu.

The bagisu's staple food is malewa. Before I proceed, an elderly gishu woman I interacted with about food told me this proverb; "Umukhasi umutuufu amanya inda yo museetsa " ( a proper woman knows the husband's stomach.) That proverb made me dig more on how the malewa is prepared and by the way, it tastes so good. Tried it. Many of you may ask, "what is malewa?" Malewa is smoked bamboo shoots which are dried for preservation. Ingredients when preparing malewa include; malewa,water,salt and peanut paste. When preparing the malewa, it is boiled in water to clean it and then the joints of the shoot are cut off leaving the middle parts which are cut into smaller pieces. Rock salt is added to the boiled malewa to make it more tender. Finally peanut paste and salt are added and the source is simmered to acquire taste. The malewa source is served with either matooke, cassava, sweet potatoes, rice or posho. The Bagisu have other foods which include; bifukye, Manila, shinoko among others.

More research coming up. Till we meet again